French crushed by South African wines at sales slump for our Gallic friends

British drinkers are buying more South African wine than French for the first time, according to industry figures.

It is a staggering transformation for a country which only started exporting wine on a major scale in 1994.

For the French it means that having once been the most dominant name on British shelves, it is now fifth, behind Australia, California, Italy and South Africa in volume sales.

In the past year, sales of South African labels such as Thandi Fairtrade Chardonnay to the UK have grown by 20 per cent to 12.27million cases. France has seen sales fall by 12 per cent to 12.266million.

That difference is as small as it is possible to record – only four cases of 12 bottles each – said industry analysts Nielsen.

The sales growth has been helped by the pound’s strength against the rand and by other currency movements. South African wines have become cheaper not just against European makes but also Australian and U.S. labels.

The average bottle of South African wine in the UK retails for £3.86 against an overall average of £4.32.

France still sells more in the UK by value but this too is on the decline, down 5 per cent to £726million in the 12 months to the end of January, while sales of South African wine were up 21 per cent to £568million.

Although wine has been made in South Africa for 350 years, it only started large-scale exports in 1994 after the end of apartheid led to free trade with the rest of the world.